Printing-press-bed-reversing mechanism.



S. I. MESBRAULL. PRINTING PRESS BED 'mzvmsme MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1912. l @3,539 Patented Jan. 6, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES INVENTOR. M

ATTORNEY.

s. I. MESERAULL.

PRINTING PRESS BED RBVERSING MECHANISM. APPLICATION TILED MAY 20, 1912. 1,083 753, I Patented Jan. 6,1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

AUORY COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CD4, WASHINGTON. D. c

S. I. MESERAULL.

PRINTING PRESS BED REVBRSING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1912.

1,083,753, Patented Jan.6,1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES INVENTOR.

j I MT'TORNEV.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0.,WASHINOTON, D. c.

g I/WJ 2W S. I. MESERAULL.

PRINTING PRESS BED REVERSING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20,-1912.

Patented J an. 6, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

mka/gmzvrolf.

T ATTORNEY.

COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH 30., WASHINGTON, D. c.

SAMUEL I. MESERAULL, OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

PRINTINGPRESS-BED-REVERSING IVIECHANISIVI.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914-.

Application filed May 20, 1912. Serial No. 698,487.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL I. MnsnnAULL, a citizen of the United States, residing at -Kansas City, in the county of Wyandotte and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing- Press-Bed-Reversing Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to driving and reversing mechanism for the bed of cylinder printing presses, and seeks to provide a simple and effective form of mechanism which may be constructed and mounted under the bed and automatically connected directly thereto, during a portion of each stroke.

Cylinder printing presses are constructed with a reciprocating bed upon which rests the form for printing, and the cylinder which is located above the bed revolves one revolution to each double stroke of the bed, forming contact therewith and making the impression as the bed travels in the direction of the printing stroke, while on the return stroke the cylinder is lifted and clears the bed and forms.

Usually about one third of the circumference of the cylinder is used for printin which represents one third of a revolution, and during this period the bed must move in exact unison with the cylinder, while the remaining two thirds revolutions are consumed in reversing the bed at each end of the stroke and returning the bed to the beginning of the printing stroke.

It is essential that the bed be driven with a positive mechanism with as few gears as possible, and that these gears be of large diameter so as to obviate slack or unsteady motion.

There must be a perfect register between the bed and cylinder during the printing stroke, and the motion of the bed .must be reversed twice during each revolution of the cylinder.

The beds of cylinder printing presses are heavy and gather considerable inertia during the travel in either direction. For this reason, it is very desirable to provide a positive mechanism with a minimum amount of friction to reverse the bed at either end of the stroke, that will absorb the inertia in one direction, and expend it in starting the bed in the opposite direction. The bed must be stopped as it nears the end of either stroke and started in the reverse direction, and all shocks, jars and noise are objectionable, because they injure the mechanism and interfere with perfect printing.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved driving mechanism which is mounted under the bed and geared directly thereto, together with a crank driven connecting rod reversing motion that engages the bed as it leaves the gear near each end of the stroke, reversing the motion and returning the bed to engage the gear.

It is customary to gear the driving mechanism to the bed, and some forms of cranks have been employed to reverse the bed, but by providing a crank to drive a connecting rod and automatically engaging the opposite end of the rod to the bed as the racks leave the gear, and reversing the bed with the crank and rod, returning the racks to engage the driving gear, the mechanism is greatly simplified, a smooth re verse is obtained at each end of the stroke, the friction is reduced to a minimum, all noise, shock and jar is removed anda much higher speed is practicable.

A further object of the invention is to drive the bed during the printing stroke and the geared portion of the return stroke with a single gear oflarge diameter and continuous rotation to engage the racks on the bed and receive motion from the driving pinion, thus dispensing with the usual slack or lost motion occasioned by the addition of gears and bearings as used hereto-fore.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the features of construction, movements, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims appended.

In the drawings,Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a printing press to which the improved driving and reversing mechanism is applied. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmental sectional view on line rear of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of arrows I-I. Fig. 4 is a fragmental sectional view on the same line as Fig. 3 looking in the same direction but with the bed near the opposite end of its travel. Fig. 5 is a fragmental plan view of the gear and crank .mechanism. Fig. 6 is'a view in elevation of the main driving gear. Fig. 7 is a fragmental sectional view in elevation on line b'.7) Fig. 2 looking in the direction of arrow II-II. Fig. 8 is the same view as Fig. 7 but with the crank advanced 180 degrees. Fig. 9 is the same view as Fig. 7, but with the crank advanced 360 degrees. Fig. 10 is the same view as Fig. 7, but with the crank advanced 540 degrees, or one and one half revolutions.

The cylinder 1 is as usual mounted on the shaft 2 journaled in boxes 3 and provided with segmental gears 4 which engage in racks 5 of the bed 6. Shaft 2 has ear 30 secured thereto for driving the cylin er and is driven by gear 29 which is mounted on shaft 9.

The frame 7 is of usual construction, contains the boxes 3, slides 10, and has shafts 8 and 9 journaled therein.

The bed 6 is provided on the lower side with rack 12 and has a web 13 extending downwardly to below the gear 14 and terminating in rack 15.

The gear l4, as will be seen in the forms shown in Figs. 2, 5, and 6, has the teeth of one half the width of the face cut away for about two thirds the circumference of the gear, as indicated in Fig. 6 from 27 to 28 while in the remaining one third the teeth from 28 to 27 extend the full width of the ace.

It is preferred to drive racks 12 and 15 with the wide portion of gear 14, the invention is not restricted, however, to this particular form of gear and racks, as it is obvious that other forms may be employed. The form of racks described and illustrated in the patent to Robert Miehle, May 12, 1885, No. 317,663, mechanical movement, could easily be substituted for racks 12 and 15.

Arm 26 is pivotally connected to shaft 11 which projects from the frame 7.

Rollers 19 and 20 are attached to arm 26, also rod 25 connects arm 26 and crank arm 23, the extreme travel of these connections are shown in Figs. 7 and 8, also in Figs. 9 and 10. It will be understood that when the bed 6 is at one end of its travel as Fig. 7, roller 19 engages cam block 21, while at the other extreme as Fig. 10, roller 20 engages cam block 22.

Pinion 18 and crank arm 23 are rigid with shaft 8 which is mounted with pulleys 16 and fly wheel 17 and designed to be driven with a continuous and regular motion by a belt or other means running on one of the pulleys 16. It is obvious from this description that the shaft will have a steady motion and will drive pinion 18 at a regular and uniform speed.

Pinion 18 meshes into gear 14 and will likewise drive the gear 14 at a steady and uniform speed.

Gear 14 and pinion 18 revolves in the direction indicated by arrows III and IIII full lines the roller 19 has entered cam block 21 by reason of the motion of the crank 23, rod 25, and swinging hanger 26. If now the pinion 18 continues to revolve in the same direction, crank 23 and roller 19 will advance the bed 6 to the end of the stroke as indicated in dotted lines Fig. 3.

By referring to Fig. 2, it will be noticed that the gear 14 is engaging the rack 12 and is not engaging rack 15 and the relations of these racks and gear remain relatively the same throughout every printing stroke.

Referring to Fig. 3, the bed 6 in full lines is shown at the end of the printing stroke and nearing the end of its travel, rack 12 is just leaving gear 14 and roller 19 has entered cam block 21 sufliciently to transfer the drive from gear 14 to roller 19, the change being made while roller 19 and bed 6 were traveling at the same speed.

The dotted lines Fig. 3 shows the bed at the end of its travel just as the crank 23 is reversing the motion of the bed 6.

It will be remembered that Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 are reverse sections to Figs. 3 and 4. The dotted lines Fig. 3 show the same position as that illustrated in Fig. 7.

Following the movement from Fig. 7 to Fig. 8 the roller 19 has been lifted from the cam block 21, and as it is lifted the mot-ion of the bed 6' has been transferred from the crank 23 to the gear 14 and rack 15. Fig. 8 represents the position on the return stroke after the gear 14 has engaged rack 15, the advance of crank 23 being 180 degrees in Fig. 8 from that shown in Fig. 7.

In Fig. 9 the gear 14 has advanced the bed 6 on the return stroke through rack 15 almost to the point of letting go, while the roller 20 is about to enter the cam block 22, the angular advance of the crank 23 being 180 degrees from the position shown in Fig. 8 to that shown in Fig. 9.

The bed 6 in Fig. 10 has reached the end of the return stroke under the control of crank 23 and is ready to return and enter the printing stroke. From this description, it will be understood that the bed 6 is always in perfect register with the cylinder during the printing stroke by reason of segmental gears 4 and racks 5, and the bed is driven at a uniform speed with the large gear 14 and rack 12 during the printing stroke.

As one third the circumference of gear 14 is used to drive the bed 6 on the printing stroke and the same part and portion is used to return the bed an equal distance on the return stroke, it is obvious that two thirds of the revolution is consumeddriving the bed through racks l2 and 15 and one sixth of the revolution is used at each end of the stroke from the time the crank 23 receives the motion from gear 14 until it is returned to the motion of the gear. The proportions however, can be changed by any mechanic by simply changing the ratio of the gears 14 and 18 and the length of arm 26. The proportions recited reverse the bed very smoothly, the racks 12 and 15 register with gear 14 perfectly, and no time is lost in reversing as has been experienced in presses used heretofore.

The driving and reversing mechanism owing to the simplicity, accuracy and noiselessness of operation and positive reverse can be run at very high speed, and is of chief importance for the driving and reversing of the beds of high speed jobbing cylinder printing presses, but may be advantageously employed for driving beds of heavy cylinder printing presses and the like.

It is obvious that numerous changes in the details as set forth may be made without departure from the essentials of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In driving and reversing mechanism for the bed of cylinder printing presses the combination of a reciprocating bed having upper and lower racks, a frame supporting said bed, a gear in fixed position and adjacent said racks, said gear provided with a toothed face comprising a narrow portion and a wide portion, said wide portion constructed to engage said racks alternately, a driving pinion meshing in said gear, a crank rigid with said pinion, a swinging arm depending from a shaft fixed in said frame, cam blocks fixed on said bed, rollers on said arm arranged to engage said cam blocks alternately as said gear disengages said racks, said rollers arranged to disengage said cam blocks alternately as said gear engages said racks, a connecting rod pivoted at one end to said crank, and the opposite end of said rod pivoted to said arm whereby said arm is oscillated and the rollers engaged with and disengaged from said cam blocks.

2. In driving and reversing mechanism for the bed of cylinder printing presses the combination of a bed provided with plural racks secured rigidly in fixed position thereto, a gear located in fixed position and adj acent said racks, said gear provided with a toothed face comprising a narrow portion and a wide portion, said wide portion of said gear constructed and arranged to engage said racks alternately and drive said bed during the printing stroke and a portion of the return stroke, said wide portion of said gear constructed and arranged to disengage said racks alternately as said bed nears the end of each stroke, a driving pinion meshing in said gear, a crank rigid with said pinion, a connecting rod pivoted at one end to said crank, said connecting rod connecting through suitably constructed and arranged connections to connect alternately with said bed as said bed nears the end of each stroke and as said gear disengages from one of said racks to reverse the motion of said bed and said racks until the opposite rack engages said wide portion of said gear.

3. In driving and reversing mechanism for the bed of cylinder printing presses the combination of a bed provided with plural racks, a frame supporting said bed, said racks secured rigidly in fixed position to said bed, a gear in fixed position and adjacent to said racks, said gear provided with a toothed face comprising a narrow portion and a wide portion, said wide portion of said gear constructed and arranged to engage said racks alternately to drive said bed during the printing stroke and a portion of the return stroke, a driving pinion meshing in said gear, a crank rigid with said pinion, a swinging arm depending from a shaft fixed in said frame, cam blocks fixed on said bed, rollers on said arm arranged to engage alternately with said cam blocks, and a connecting rod pivoted at one end to said crank, the opposite end of said rod pivoted to said arm.

4:. In driving and reversing mechanism for the bed of cylinder printing presses the combination of a reciprocating bed, a frame supporting said bed, means to drive said bed during the printing stroke and a portion of the return stroke, a crank arranged to revolve at a fixed ratio to the strokes of said bed, a swinging arm depending from a shaft fixed in said frame, plural rollers on said arm, plural cam blocks opening upward as a bifurcated aw and fixed on said bed, and a connecting rod connecting said arm to said crank whereby said rollers are alternately rocked into engagement with said cam blocks and the bed reversed thereby at the end of each stroke.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL I. MESERAULL.

Witnesses JAMES B. REDMON, LAURA E. SHIRKEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0. 

